State ex rel. Gerhardt v. Springfield City Commission

941 N.E.2d 819, 190 Ohio App. 3d 233
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 22, 2010
DocketNo. 2010-CA-27
StatusPublished

This text of 941 N.E.2d 819 (State ex rel. Gerhardt v. Springfield City Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Gerhardt v. Springfield City Commission, 941 N.E.2d 819, 190 Ohio App. 3d 233 (Ohio Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

{¶ 1} On March 11, 2010, relators, Paul Gerhardt and Ginger Gerhardt, filed a petition for a writ of mandamus. Relators allege that they have suffered physical damage to their persons and property on account of the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport’s proximity to relators’ residence, which is located at 400 Sparrow Road, Springfield, Clark County, Ohio. Specifically, relators assert that respondents, the Springfield City Commission and the city commissioners individually, have failed to mitigate noise pollution and vibrations caused by the testing [235]*235of jet engines, despite the construction of a “hush house” in 1986. (A “hush house” is a “building designed to reduce audible noise and physical vibrations that are created by the testing of jet engines.”) Thus, relators seek an order from this court compelling respondents to “institute appropriation proceedings in connection with the Respondents’ uncompensated taking of the Relators’ Property, or portion thereof, in connection with the hush house; to determine the value of the Relators’ Property which has been taken; [and] to determine the amount of damages due and owing to the residue of the Relators’ Property by way of the continuous operation of the hush house since 2001.”

{¶ 2} On April 6, 2010, respondents filed a motion to dismiss the instant petition under Civ.R. 12(B)(6). Therein, respondents first argue that they and the city of Springfield have not taken relators’ property, as alleged in the petition. According to respondents, the city of Springfield leases approximately 164.06 acres of its 1,600-acre municipal property known as the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport to the United States of America. The lease, which began in 1954 and extends into the present by way of 12 modification agreements, grants the United States exclusive use of the territory. The United States has entered into a license with the Ohio Air National Guard, for use of the territory under the lease. Respondents assert that all facilities constructed on the territory, therefore, are owned by the United States and are occupied and operated by the Ohio Air National Guard.

{¶ 3} One such facility is the hush house subject to this petition. Pursuant to the affidavit of Major Matthew Craig, attached to respondents’ motion to dismiss, “[a] hush house is a movable item of equipment large enough for a jet aircraft to be parked inside and in which jet engines are operated during maintenance and testing activities. The hush house is a metal structure approximately two stories in height, occupies approximately 9,270 ft2 of area and is placed on a substantial concrete slab. A hush house is intended to reduce the amount of noise, vibrations and fumes released into the environment when engines are operated during maintenance and testing activities.” The hush house at issue here was originally constructed in 1986 and was moved to its current location approximately 2,500 feet to the southwest of relators’ home in 2002. Because the hush house is an item of equipment owned by the United States and operated by the Ohio Air National Guard, respondents contend that relators cannot show there has been a taking by either respondents or the city of Springfield. Consequently, respondents assert that relators fail to demonstrate that respondents have a clear legal duty to initiate an appropriation action.

{¶ 4} Next, respondents claim that the petition must be dismissed because the city purchased an aviation easement on relators’ property in 1983 that releases the city from liability for the precise damages alleged in this action. The [236]*236easement provides that “the Grantors, for valuable consideration paid, grant, with general warranty covenants, to The City of Springfield, Ohio * * * an easement and right of way, appurtenant to The Springfield Municipal Airport for the unobstructed passage of all aircraft (‘aircraft’ being defined for the purpose of this instrument as any contrivance now known or hereafter invented, used or designed for navigation of or flight in the air) by whomsoever owned and operated, * * * together with the right to cause in all air space above the surface of Grantor’s property such noise, vibrations, fumes, dust, fuel particles, and all other effects that may be caused by the operation of aircraft landing at, or taking off from, or operating at or on said Springfield Municipal Airport; and Grantors do hereby fully waive, remise, and release any right or cause of action which they may have or which they may have in the future against Grantee, its successors and assigns, due to such noise, vibrations, fumes, dust, fuel particles, and all other effects that may be caused or may have been caused by the operation of aircraft landing at, or taking off from, or operating at or on said Springfield Municipal Airport.” In light of the terms of the easement, respondents argue that relators have not shown they have a clear legal right to an appropriation action for a taking arising out of causes for which the easement allegedly releases the city of liability.

{¶ 5} Finally, respondents argue that the Springfield City Commission is not sui juris; thus, it cannot sue or be sued without statutory authority. Insofar as relators have named the Springfield City Commissioners in their individual capacities, respondents claim that mandamus is inappropriate to compel them to commence appropriation proceedings, because adopting legislation to initiate an appropriation action is a discretionary act, and mandamus “cannot be used to control the exercise of administrative or legislative discretion.” State ex rel. Dublin v. Delaware Cty. Bd. of Commrs. (1991), 62 Ohio St.3d 55, 60, 577 N.E.2d 1088.

{¶ 6} On April 26, 2010, relators filed a memorandum in opposition to respondents’ motion to dismiss. Therein, relators argue that the city is indeed responsible for the taking of their property, as the city owns the land upon which the hush house sits.1 Alternatively, relators claim that if liability for the taking lies with the United States and/or the Ohio Air National Guard, the appropriate action for respondents is to join those parties by way of a motion pursuant to Civ.R. 19, not to move for dismissal.

[237]*237{¶ 7} Relators further assert that the city has acknowledged its ownership of the property on which the hush house sits and its intention to appropriate relators’ property for airport operations by way of a notice of intent to acquire property, pursuant to R.C. 163.04 and 163.041, sent to relators on October 16, 2009. Although an appropriation of the property did not ultimately take place, relators assert that such action evinces the city’s intent to appropriate the property for extended use of the airport operations, thereby demonstrating that the city has a clear legal duty to initiate the appropriation proceedings sought in this action.

{¶ 8} Next, relators contend that the 1983 aviation easement described above could not have contemplated the disturbances alleged to have been produced in the hush house, because the easement considers the operation of aircraft only. Relators distinguish the operation of aircraft from the operation of jet engines, the latter being the primary use of the hush house.

{¶ 9} Relators also argue that the aviation easement was granted only to the city, and there has been no assignment of the easement to the United States or the Ohio National Guard.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Causby
328 U.S. 256 (Supreme Court, 1946)
Griggs v. Allegheny County
369 U.S. 84 (Supreme Court, 1962)
State ex rel. Partlow v. City of Columbus
257 N.E.2d 395 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1970)
State ex rel. Bower v. City of Columbus
271 N.E.2d 860 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1971)
State ex rel. Shemo v. City of Mayfield Heights
765 N.E.2d 345 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
941 N.E.2d 819, 190 Ohio App. 3d 233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-gerhardt-v-springfield-city-commission-ohioctapp-2010.